Promotion

The Kill Team documentary trailer, murder in war

I imagine that there are many soldier's stories from war yet to come to light. There are many more books in publication from soldiers than there are films about them and it's hard to give them all attention, but they deserve it. After putting themselves in harm's way and fighting for their country no matter what the political reasoning, you have to offer them support and respect.

So it makes documentaries like this all the more important to be seen and heard in order to understand what they go through and the terrible decisions they make as well as the wrong decisions.

The Kill Team follows one soldier who returned from Afghanistan to face charges of being a war criminal when, as the trailer suggests, he was appalled by the actions that were carried out overseas and tried to do something about it.

In 2010, US Army Specialist Adam Winfield eagerly deployed to Afghanistan as an idealistic patriot, but returned home a year later a suspected war criminal. Academy Award-nominee Dan Krauss (The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club) exposes the unimaginable events that forced a young soldier into the crosshairs of one of the largest military investigations in US history. Hopped up on the adrenaline of arriving in Kandahar province, Winfield's platoon is quickly disillusioned by a lack of “action.”

Soldiers begin murdering Afghan civilians for sport. The “kill team” operates above suspicion until Winfield twigs to the atrocities. Desperate to report what he knows, but under threat from his own squad, Winfield must make an impossible choice. Shockingly candid interviews with the accused soldiers, graphic evidence of their crimes and tense backroom court scenes plunge the viewer into Winfield's dire straits. A fascinating examination of whistle-blowing blowback, this deft exposé illustrates how quickly morality can dissipate in the fog of war.

You can read more about him, the “Kill Team” and the “Maywand District killings” over on Wikipedia but be warned that it does tell you the full story of Specialist Adam Winfield. Suffice to say that he informed his Father back home of what was happening who tried to raise it with the American Army. They said that the Specialist had to report it and when he did so for various crimes he was assaulted by the other soldiers and warned to keep quiet. He ignored them.

The Kill Team documents his story and looks to be a powerful one at that:

The film comes from Dan Krauss and, I suspect, won't gain too much of a release in America.